Sunday Sudoku

Complete the grid so that each row, column, and 3-by-3 framed block contains the letters P A R K B E N C H (only once) RATED EASY

17th Century Venetian Scoops Benchley!

I was digging around in the Muse database at the Boston Athenaeum the other day and found twenty-nine citations about Robert Benchley.

One interesting piece of Benchley trivia is contained in an article from the Journal, Eighteenth Century Life, called Water, Windows, and Women: The Significance of Venice for Scots in the Age of the Grand Tour, by Iain Gordon Brown, in the Fall, 2006 issue.

Brown claims that Benchley's famous telegram from Venice -- "Streets full of water -- please advise." – was at least partly anticipated in 1670! He says that Benchley stole the phrase -- though I think this is a bit of good-natured hyperbole, since I refuse to believe they had telegrams back then. Here is Mr. Brown's take on things:

"Richard Lassels's The Voyage of Italy, published posthumously in 1670 [is where] the term 'Grand Tour' is first used. This early manuscript . . . personified Venice as a beautiful woman, one of the fairest in Europe, holding up her head in the midst of the sea with Neptune for her guard and the reason for her sleeping securely.

“'The streets,' Lassels writes, 'are full of water.' (fols. 322 – 25). It was he who said this long before Robert Benchley stole the phrase in the twentieth century, and got himself into the books of travel quotations."

Well, this is a fine kettle of Venetian something-or-other!

Happy Birthday, Nicole!

On Thursday, June 9, 2011 the United States Department of Homeland Security published in the Federal Register (76 FR 33643) a temporary final rule amending 33 CFR Part 165, to wit: Safety Zone; Nicole Cerrito Birthday Fireworks, Detroit River, Detroit, MI.

On June 11, 2011, a private party is holding a land-based birthday celebration that will include fireworks launched from a point on the Detroit River. The fireworks display will occur between 10 p.m. and 11:15 p.m., June 11, 2011. ...Accordingly, the safety zone will encompass all waters on the Detroit River within a 300 foot radius of the fireworks barge launch site located off the shore of Detroit, MI at position 42[deg]21'04'' N, 082[deg]58'32'' W.

Well, happy birthday to you, Nicole, whoever you are. It's not everyone whose birthday celebration includes a fireworks display big enough to be seen by the citizens of two nations -- Americans in Detroit and Canadians to the south in Windsor, Ontario, on the other side of that international boundary, the Detroit River.

I live in Boston, on the top of Beacon Hill, with views to both the Charles River and Boston Harbor, two popular fireworks venues. Our Fourth of July fireworks over the Charles are well-known from the national television broadcast. Major public festivities in Boston -- arrival of the Tall Ships, First Night (New Year's Eve), and other civic celebrations -- include fireworks over the harbor. Public fireworks displays from time to time through the year is just one of the benefits of city living. An added benefit is watching legal private fireworks displays, such as last week's over the Charles in celebration of the centenary of the founding of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I'm not an M.I.T. man, nor did I attend the high-priced fireworks-watching party across the river in Cambridge, but I had just as good a view for free. Similarly with fireworks last summer over the harbor for the wedding of persons I never heard of.

Who is Nicole Cerrito? Who are these private citizens who can afford huge fireworks displays for birthdays or weddings? They certainly aren't any of the people I know. Nor likely, reader, are they persons you know. They are total strangers with a lot of money (bully for them!) who celebrate the mileposts of life -- birthdays, anniversaries, weddings -- in a big way, so big that they share it with the rest of us within viewing area of the skies, which are free. I think that's grand! And to all Robert Benchley fans in Detroit or Windsor Saturday night, I suggest you get down to the the waterfront, watch Nicole's fireworks, and raise a glass in her honor.

From the Mail Bag

To the inquiry:

My friend sent me a bunch of Life Magazine articles by RCB and "A Polyp with a Past" was one of them, I suppose predating the script for the film, "Sex Life of a Polyp."

The Robert Benchley Society responded:

According to Gordon Ersnt, in Robert Benchley: An Annotated Bibliography (page 39), "Polyp with a Past" first appeared in Life of December 22, 1921. The film "Sex Life of a Polyp" (see Ernst page 202) dates to July 25, 1928 and is based on the essay above and on "Do Insects Think?" (Life, August 3, 1922) and "The Social Life of the Newt" (Vanity Fair, December 1919).

The RBS has on its website a List of Benchley Essays with which Books They Appear In which shows the following:

"Polyp with a Past" appears in Love Conquers All (1922) beginning on page 92 and Benchley Beside Himself (1943) beginning on page 1.

"Do Insects Think?" appears in Love Conquers All (1922) in beginning on page 62 and Benchley Round-up (1954) beginning on page 44.

"The Social Life of the Newt" appears in Of All Things (1921) beginning on page 3, Inside Benchley (1942) beginning on page 1, and Benchley Round-up (1954) beginning on page 11.

Love Conquers All is in the public domain in the United States and is available on the RBS website at http://www.robertbenchley.org/lca/index.htm.

Amazon to Release DVD of Benchley in "See Here, Private Hargrove" This Month

Actors: Robert Walker, Keenan Wynn, Robert Benchley, Ray Collins, Chill Wills
Release date: June 24, 2011.

According to Wikipedia:

See Here, Private Hargrove (1942) is a book by journalist Marion Hargrove about the author's experiences in becoming a soldier in the U.S. Army during World War II. The light-hearted book was a hit with readers, and spent 15 weeks atop the New York Times best seller list. It was still in print 50 years after its original publication date.

The book was made into a film in 1944 starring Robert Walker, Donna Reed, Keenan Wynn, Chill Wills, and Robert Benchley

Did I Die and Go to Heaven? Not Yet. But I Did Stay at...

Did I die and go to Heaven? Not yet. But I did stay at the legendary Algonquin Hotel for several days just last week, mere moments before its most recent sale at 82 million smackeroos.

For a writer, member of the Robert Benchley Society, and a humorist, visiting the home of The Algonquin Round Table is akin to a holy event.

The Oak Room. The mural. Me. This is my pilgrimage to the altar of wit, brilliant repartee, sophisticated quips, and cherished literary history.

Barb Best "A Vicious Circle" by Natalie Ascencios

A display case adjacent to the elevators displays a historical collection of cultural keepsakes from The Algonquin Round Table. Included are photographs of Robert Benchley and vintage copies of some of his books.

Let us not forget Matilda, the celebrity cat whose chaise longue adorns the front lobby. She has a popular book (a biography), a Facebook page, an active Twitter account, and (I suspect) a lucrative merchandising deal. Eat your heart out, Eloise and Taco Bell Chihuahua.

I had the pleasure of meeting Matilda in The Oak Room when I was luxuriating over a lengthy, late breakfast with a writer friend. She's quite sociable (Matilda, that is).

The wallpaper upstairs in the hallways is custom made from classic New Yorker cartoons. Thurber, Arno, Steig, Addams. I never thought I'd say this, but I am in love with wallpaper.

Seeking inspiration within The Algonquin?

There is a "Writer's Block" rate at The Algonquin. Simply show a manuscript or published work to qualify.

BARB BEST is a new member of the Robert Benchley Society and in the Top Ten in the RBS Humor Writing Competition.

She is also the 2010 Erma Bombeck Global Humor Winner. Her blog is Barb's Blast.

Sunday Sudoku

Complete the grid so that each row, column, and 3-by-3 framed block contains the letters P A R K B E N C H (only once) RATED MEDIUM DIFFICULTY